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Thursday, November 5, 2009

I received this ARC from Kim Miller at Nancy Berland Public Relations for review.

My Review:

This is your perfect holiday feel good read. The note I made myself in my notebook while reading this says, "You know where this book is going from the start, but the joy of this book is reading how it gets there." And that is so true. After 10 or so pages you know exactly who was talking in the prologue and how it will end, but the journey is amazing.

I fell in love with the small town and the characters. There are actually several stories going on with Syl and Joe's old romance and strange circumstances to Syl's leaving town years ago being at the forefront. The other stories involve Lottie Sparks trying to find a home for Teddy Sparks because she has Alzheimer's. And the final story is between Doris and Floyd Culver whose marriage is showing wear from the years together.

Kat Martin weaves these three storylines magically together and it's a pure feel good novel. I loved the romance of the book. It's a wonderful story to read during the magical Christmas season. It reminds you there is good out there and if you try you can find it.

About the book:

Sylvia Winters just found a job and an apartment in her hometown of Dreyerville, Michigan, but she is hesitant to return. Eight years ago, she jilted her fiancé, Joe Dixon, telling him that she was moving to Chicago because small-town living was not for her. But she was lying. Syl was headed to Chicago to be treated for cervical cancer. Sadly, Joe never knew the real reason she left him. Confused and distraught, he turned to drinking to heal the pain, until he accidentally killed a man and served years in jail. Now Syl and Joe are both back in town, but it will take a miracle to bring them back into each other’s arms.

Also in town is Lottie Sparks and her grandson, Teddy. Ever since Lottie’s daughter was killed in a drunk-driving accident, Lottie’s been in charge of Teddy. He appreciates her love more than she knows, so much so that the industrious eight-year-old hits up Joe’s auto body shop, so he can save enough money by Christmas to buy his grandmother a Victorian clock she adores—one that vividly reminds her of her childhood, even as the rest of her memories are slipping away with the onset of advanced Alzheimer’s.

As spring turns to summer and summer to fall, matters in the Sparks’ household take a turn for the worse. And with winter approaching, will a little hope and a big dose of Christmas magic be enough to make everything all right again?